André Denis
1942-1989
Born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, André Denis was an accomplished ballet, folk and tap dancer who toured with the Les Feux-Follets ensemble in the United States. He began working with figure skaters in 1973, at a time when choreographers or 'stylists' as they were then known were few and far between in the amateur skating world. His successful partnership with American ice dancers Carol Fox and Richard Dalley led to a highly successful career in Canada. He worked with a who's who of figure skating, including Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini, Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall, Ron Shaver, Lori Nichol and Lorna Wighton and John Dowding. He led off-ice dance classes at the CFSA and Quebec section's seminars and the Canada Ice Dance Theatre in Victoria. He also worked with Doug Leigh's students in Barrie and Carlo Fassi's students in Colorado Springs. He passed away in 1989 at the age of forty-six.
Memories of André from Lorna (Wighton) Aldridge Gosvener: "I do remember his pronunciation of certain words (as to where the inflection was) was always met with great laughter from us all. He had a wonderful sense of humor and working with him was always a fun loving experience. He made our sessions so enjoyable and never entered the rink with out a big grin on his face. I miss him so and I'm sure all those who were so fortunate to have worked with the Great André Denis feel the same way."
Memories of André from Jean-Pierre Boulais: "We started to hear about this guy named André Denis that was getting involved in figure skating as a choreographer. Choreographers didn't really exist at the time. Working with Fox and Dalley really put him on the map and made him famous and that's when people started talking about him. My Dad gets this call at home from a person with the Quebec skating federation asking if we had any idea of this guy. My Dad said, 'André Denis... that rings a bell.' My father owned a school bus company and remembered this little bratty boy who used to come and playing hide and seek on the school buses at night with his friends. We ended up finding out it was him, and his sister was one of our neighbours! She lived just right down from the street from where we lived. My Mom and Dad walked to his sister's house and knocked on the door. They told his sister, 'Our son is a figure skater and we've heard of this guy called André Denis that's involved in the figure skating world down in the States.' The sister says, 'Yes, that's my brother and he actually comes to see me very often and he's going to be down to see me in a few weeks and if you want, I can introduce him to you.' A few weeks later, we got to meet him and from that day he accepted to start to work with me. By that token, we got him involved doing seminars with the Quebec team at the training center the federation had put together. André ended up signing contracts and supervising all of the artistic parts of skating for us. That's how he got his start before working with other great skaters in Canada. He was one of the people that influenced the artistic part of skating and brought it to another level. He was just such a great person and had such a good way of influencing us in the right way. All the skaters loved him. He pushed the envelope and we pushed him too, because he was getting into something he really didn't know. We got him out on the ice teaching us in skates. He was so agile and we told him, 'André, you need a pair of skates and we're going to show you how.' Within a few months, he was standing up on his skates. It was funny because sometimes he would try things and just let himself go. We'd laugh. Obviously we didn't want him to hurt himself, but as a dancer he was so agile that skating was really easy for him to learn... He was a very timid person. He was very reserved, into himself. He was sick at a time when AIDS was just coming out and it was the worst disease to have. It was a great career going on for this guy who was living such a pitiful, hard life at the same time. Because of the connection we had - family wise and friendship - he was very open to us, so we got the chance to meet the real André. I went to see him on his death bed in Toronto with David Wilson, who was my partner at the time. I was so happy because he was conscious. I held his hand. I talked to him. He was very, very happy that I went to see him. Two days later he was gone. If you would have known him, you would have fallen in love with him. He was so nice and positive. He was a source of inspiration and a big part of the reason I've achieved what I have in skating."
*Source for inclusion: "Skating's Spectre", Michael Clarkson, The Calgary Herald, December 13, 1992
